Monthly Archives: December 2013

In which our intrepid hero checks out a collection of old motor hotels…

In various previous excursions, I traveled along most of Ohio’s stretch of US-40, once one of America’s most important highways but now a forgotten backwater. The most interesting thing about US-40 are its many old motor hotels or motels, constructed mostly from the 1930s through the 1950s before the Interstate Highway system doomed them to oblivion. Now some have been razed, others are in ruins, still others have been repurposed to some other effect (typically as low income apartments), and a few manage somehow to hang on.

Like this:

In which our intrepid hero finds himself transported to days long past…

I am always aware of my photographic limitations. Not only does the methodology I employ (roadside photography) have many drawbacks that limit the number of good photographs I can take, but my own inherent limitations reduce that number still further. As of this writing, I have been taking these sorts of photographs for only around eight months; these particular photographs were taken after only three months. So much of my photography is either of the “even a broken clock is right twice a day” variety or of the “interesting subject, not so good photograph” variety. I acknowledge that. On the other hand…

Having always basically been a city boy, some aspects of living in the country seem very different to me, including basic issues of convenience. For example, for many years I lived in a townhouse apartment in Grandview, a Columbus neighborhood/incorporated town. My apartment was not just in walking distance but within ridiculously easy walking distance of a grocery store, a pharmacy, several ATMs, a gas station, a number of restaurants from fast food to fancy, two bookstores, a couple of coffee places, two bakeries, a post office, a produce store, and much more. I live in a more typical suburb now, which means that only a few things are that close, but essentially everything is just a short car ride away. But if you live in the countryside, nothing is going to be close, and your options will be fewer. There are many places in Ohio so far away from a gas station that unless you maintain a gas tank on your property you essentially have to plan when you are going to get gas. Do you have a late night craving? Better hope you took that into account when you bought groceries two weeks ago, because no store within many miles will be open.

I have a long history with the television show “I Love Lucy.” In fact, when I was three or four years old, “I Love Lucy” taught me a valuable lesson. Sometime in 1969 or 1970 I was watching an episode of “I Love Lucy” and my mother walked into the room and announced that the family was going somewhere. She turned off the television and we got into the car and left (I have no idea what the destination was). When we returned, some time later, I turned the television on so that I could finish watching “I Love Lucy.” But it wasn’t on! That was when I discovered that when you turned the television off, the shows on TV did not stop playing but continued while you were not around!

One reaction that I’ve had to the photographs posted in these blog entries has been to wonder why my photos rarely ever contain people in them. One person who viewed some of the photos in the blog wondered jokingly if they were images taken after the Zombie Apocalypse. It’s true that human beings are far and few between in my photos. One reason is that my photos are all developed using Soylent Green software. But there are other reasons, too.